style.com: beauty icon, the halstonettes

“You’re only as good as the people you dress,” Halston once said, and no one took that advice to heart more than the iconic seventies designer himself. Bianca Jagger, Liza Minnelli, Jackie Kennedy, and Elizabeth Taylor were all fans of his sleek gowns and breezy caftans, often appearing arm in arm with the man responsible for their outfits. His original models—Karen Bjornson, Pat Cleveland, and Anjelica Huston among them—were so loyal that André Leon Talley devised a moniker for them, the Halstonettes, creating an official fan club for the designer born Roy Halston Frowick in Des Moines.

The languid jet-set glamour of Halston’s designs—his clothes were perfect for poolside lounging or dancing at Studio 54—has long since become part of the fashion lexicon, and the latest revival is imminent. Marc Jacobs followed the clingy jersey shirtdresses and slim jumpsuits he showed for Fall with feather-light tunics for Resort; Bob Colacello’s new book of late-seventies/early-eighties snapshots, Out, is set to reintroduce many of the era’s key players to a new generation of club kids; and, last but not least, of course, there is the Weinstein Company’s recent acquisition of the Halston label itself. They may not allow guests to enter on white horses at The Box, but the designer’s brand of seventies glam lives on.
—Alison Baenen

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Photo: Paul Schutzer / Stringer / Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images

Jackie Kennedy, with her husband on Inauguration Day, January 20, 1961, wears a hat designed for her by Halston.